 Southeast Regional & State Tournaments By Renee Claggett March 13, 2007
The competition started on February 23rd at 3:00pm at the Floyd Dryden Middle School in Juneau where teams from all over Southeast were preparing themselves for what would be a busy two days of wrestling. Two mats were set up and Wrangell went out to establish themselves as one of the top teams after the first day of matches. Winning 21 out of 31 matches the first day Coach Brett Claggett was thrilled with their performances. The matches started again Saturday morning, February 24th, promptly at 10:00am with crucial wins bringing several Cougars into the Championship and Consolation Rounds. At 85 lbs Ryan Reeves led off the Consolation Round for the Cougars battling Luke Clayton of Sitka. Reeves took 4th. Trey Torvend at 115 lbs was the next Cougar to take the mat in the round. He faced Austin Nickerson of Craig and took 4th place. In the 133 lb bracket, David Gillen faced off with Robert Barkoefer of Sitka and brought home the 3rd place medal. Steven Johnson was next at 140 lbs. Johnson fought hard against Dwayne Clary of Ketchikan and brought home 4th place. The last Cougar to wrestle in consolation round was Devan Harding wrestling Dillon Zulhuber of Craig in the 148 lb bracket. Devan pinned Dillon for the win taking 3rd place. The Championship round followed with Ryan Claggett going to the mat first for the Cougars at 95 lbs Ryan faced Eric Hill of home team Floyd Dryden. Ryan pinned Hill to lock up 1st place. Kyle Groshong faced off with Tyler McMichael from Floyd Dryden in the 121 lb bracket to bring home 2nd place. Next to take the mat for the Cougars at 127 lbs was Patrick Howell facing Jake Sturgeon of Petersburg. Patrick took home 2nd place. Travis Bangs was the last Cougar of the night to take the mat at 133 lbs. Travis faced Cameron Fronimos of Floyd Dryden to take 2nd place. After individual awards were given to the wrestlers who placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd the team points were announced. The Stikine Cougars were the 2nd place winners for 3-A schools. The team and coaches rushed forward to claim their trophy and bring it home to Wrangell. The Craig Panthers took home the trophy for 1st place for 3-A schools. Floyd Dryden took first for 4-A schools, while Sitka brought home the 2nd place trophy, The season finished for two Cougars the following weekend as they travelled to Fairbanks to compete in the State Tournament. Ryan Claggett and Devan Harding headed North on March 2nd with Coach Claggett to represent Wrangell and Stikine Middle School. Devan Harding won one of his three matches and Ryan Claggett; a sixth grader took 5th place.
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